Amtrak Blankets to be Sealed for your Protection

[SarahZ]

Well that was a horrifying fact to learn.

Yup, and most hotels only wash their bedspreads once per month.

All the hotels that I stay at actually do change the duvet covers and bedspreads between guests. Many major chains do so. So the term "most" is probably an exaggeration. But yes, there are many hotels, specially low end ones, that do as little as they can get away with.

I'm referencing an article I read several years ago, so I admit this practice has probably changed, especially in the major chains and boutique hotels.

 

[seat38a]

Really didn't want to know that the blankets were not washed after each turn. Hopefully this program turns out well and gets rolled out nationwide before my trip on the CS and EB in mid May. I just assumed they were washed after each passenger use. Ignorance is bliss in this case.

 

[ciship]

YES YES YES!!! I am thrilled to hear this. The nasty blue blankets always creeped me out. I also bring my own fresh/cleaned pillow cases (in ziplock bags) to ensure I have my head laying on a clean pillowcase. I used to just get extras from the car attendant, but now they lock everything up.

I'm on the City of New Orleans in late June. Sure hope they are doing this by then on that train!

 

[ciship]

People are different, some change their bath towels/wash rags daily, some even change their bed linens daily!

I once worked with a woman who ssid she only used a towel one time before tossing it into the laundry hamper, so she always had loads of towels to wash.

I'm that woman. I keep a stack of fresh pillowcases by every bed in my house to be changed each night. Both my kids went through all their elementary school days (7 years) without a sick day. I also don't allow dish towels in my kitchen or hand towels in the bathroom. Paper towels only! Wasteful? YES.......but, does it keep my family healthy when others are sick all the time? You bet!

 

[Ispolkom]

Why should I assume that now the blankets will be washed after every use, just because they are put in a plastic bag?

 

[NorthShore]

I'm surprised they haven't come up with the concept of eliminating free blankets and encouraging passengers to purchase an overnight pack from the cafe car.

 

[SarahZ]

Why should I assume that now the blankets will be washed after every use, just because they are put in a plastic bag?

Because they will likely be sealed by the laundry company. When I worked in restaurants, all of our linens arrived sealed in plastic bags. It's not a ziploc or tied bag. You actually have to rip open the bag.

Besides, it's pretty hard to seal a blanket into a bag without pressing it first. I doubt they'd have a laundry company press them without washing/drying them.

You can kind of see them here:

 

[rickycourtney]

Having fresh blankets is great but, I would prefer to have the SCA open it and make the bed. Especially true when I get on the Starlight at mindignt 1:00 in SAC.

Agreed.

 

[fillyjonk]

Yeah, the last time I was on the TE, the blanket was kind of nasty, it looked like someone had been eating in the room and spilled on it. I tried not to think about it and just touch the sheets.

I know, I could have asked for a fresh one, I suppose, but it was late and I couldn't spot the SCA....so I just tried not to think about it.

But with stuff like the measles outbreak....yeah, that would creep me out a little.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Often the extra Linens are kept on the top rack of the Lower Level Luggage Storage and if the SCA is not around and I need an extra blanket, I'll grab one.

 

[SteveSFL]

Reviving this topic from January -- the fresh blanket experiment should be wrapping up (haha) in a few days (90 days from Jan 20). I wonder how it's working out. I'm hoping they will expand to all of the LD trains sooner rather than later. They probably won't be ready for my trip in May, but hopefully by the time I go with Mom and Dad in July. I'll be sure not to mention it to them just in case we're getting "recycled blankets".

I wonder if they will stop the experiment to do their evaluation or if they will continue on the designated trains while they do the evaluation?

 

[Acela150]

I think it's a great idea. Although i'm with other posters, in the hopes that the SCA would unwrap the blanket and put it on the bed. More so when one is boarding late at night.

 

[cirdan]

The airlines always plastic wrap there blankets. I think it's standard in all classes.

Do they even wash and re-use those.

Some of the fabric is so thin that it looks as if it would disintegrate after one washing. I think at least some of them are throw away blankets.

 

[cirdan]

Having fresh blankets is great but, I would prefer to have the SCA open it and make the bed. Especially true when I get on the Starlight at mindignt 1:00 in SAC.

Quite, this plastic wrapper thing seems to me to be more about making sure the customer knows the blanket is clean than it actually being clean.

I'm quite OK with the SCA making my bed and will trust that it is clean if they say so.

 

[andersone]

Gee I survived all those unwashed blankets on all those LD trips ,,,,,

And we somehow made it through 3,000 generations without hand sanitizer

 

[cirdan]

Gee I survived all those unwashed blankets on all those LD trips ,,,,,

And we somehow made it through 3,000 generations without hand sanitizer

This.

A bit of dirt and germs is even supposed to be good for your immune system and reduce risks of allergies in kids.

I'm talking reasonable levels of course, not recommending unhygienic conditions

 

[SteveSFL]

I've survived the multi-use blankets, too, and never really gave a thought about it until this thread started. But now it's kind of creepy to me. For the last two posts, would you be comfortable sleeping at a hotel if you knew they had not changed the sheets after the last guest?

I only change my sheets once a week at home, so if a hotel were to change them every other guest it should be ok, right? (Yuck!)

 

[DryCreek]

I've survived the multi-use blankets, too, and never really gave a thought about it until this thread started. But now it's kind of creepy to me. For the last two posts, would you be comfortable sleeping at a hotel if you knew they had not changed the sheets after the last guest?

I only change my sheets once a week at home, so if a hotel were to change them every other guest it should be ok, right? (Yuck!)

With age comes wisdom.

As an adventurous young lad circumnavigating the globe in service of the United States Navy, I never gave a second thought about the bed linens in all of those bordellos I once romped through. Since I never contracted any strange rashes or brought any unwelcome bugs aboard, I would assume that no lesson was ever learned from those trysts. Yet, in my later years, I do tend to give consideration to the cleanliness of my lodging. I cannot pinpoint the year when I began to notice those things. Maybe it was after I got married and my wife trained me to be more observant about my environment.

Still, unless the blanket smells really funky or is crackly-stiff with sticky spots, I would have probably never given it a second thought until reading this post. I am not a germophobe for the most part. I wouldn't have been picking up calf poop just a few minutes ago and throwing it at a stray cat that wandered into the barn if I was.

 

[keelhauled]

For the last two posts, would you be comfortable sleeping at a hotel if you knew they had not changed the sheets after the last guest?

I don't think anyone has claimed that Amtrak doesn't wash/replace sheets. Or for that matter hotels.

 

[SteveSFL]

For the last two posts, would you be comfortable sleeping at a hotel if you knew they had not changed the sheets after the last guest?

I don't think anyone has claimed that Amtrak doesn't wash/replace sheets. Or for that matter hotels.

No, but a couple of posters implied that dirt and germs in some bedding (blankets) are no problem and I wanted to see what their limits are.

 

[DryCreek]

No, but a couple of posters implied that dirt and germs in some bedding (blankets) are no problem and I wanted to see what their limits are.

Well, I think that based on some responses so far - it kinda depends on what time they board. If they board early and wait for turndown service, they are far more picky than if they are boarding at 2 a.m. after having spent the past several hours on a cold, hard station bench waiting for a late arrival. So, it sounds to me like the limits could be a moving target.......

 

[railiner]

Haven't been in a sleeper for a long time, but the fact that the blanket can be folded into the relatively small plastic bag shown in an earlier post makes me wonder how much warmth they can provide..... :unsure:

As for presenting the blanket in the bag to reassure passengers of cleanliness.....what's next....a paper strip around the bed reading "Sanitized For Your Protection"?

 

[C&O RR]

So, the fact that the blankets are in a plastic bag means they are clean.

What about the sheets? They are not in plastic bags. :giggle:

 

[Bob Dylan]

So, the fact that the blankets are in a plastic bag means they are clean.

What about the sheets? They are not in plastic bags. :giggle:

The sheets, pillow cases and towels do come aboard in plastic wrap, but most SCAs take them out for storage when setting up their car for the trip.

You may have seen them in the downstairs luggage rack and the shower on Superliners?

 

[Lonestar648]

Why couldn't they just wrap a bundle of clean blankets in plastic like the sheets, pillow cases, and towels. If not, then we may see the next level will being a sleeper pack with your sheet, case, towel, and blanket. That way each passenger could know that their bedding is clean as they make up their own bed.